Gifted, self-built, perfected: this is how Hamas acquired its ultra-modern arsenal

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When Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel shortly before dawn on Saturday, it quickly fired thousands of rockets and rockets into Israeli cities. At the same time, numerous militia fighters advanced into Israeli territory, killing or kidnapping hundreds of people.

While Israelis wonder how their security apparatus could have overlooked Hamas’s preparations for the attack, another question arises: How did Hamas manage to amass a huge arsenal of weapons?

Iran has provided Hamas with massive financial injections, weapons, logistical assistance and missile training since the 1980s, according to current and former Middle Eastern intelligence officials and weapons experts. There was recently talk of $30 million a month.

The extent to which Iran was directly involved in Saturday’s violence remains unclear. What is certain: Tehran played a key role in building Hamas’s missile program. Hamas also received support from the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, which is funded by Tehran. Their engineers instructed Hamas to build rockets from common materials such as pipes, fertilizer and sugar, as Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Washington Institute for Military and Security Studies, told the Washington Post. Hamas continued to optimize its initially rudimentary weapons until domestic rocket production gradually became possible.

Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior CIA officer who worked on counterterrorism in the Middle East, told the Washington Post: “The use of paragliders certainly required training outside the Gaza Strip.” Tehran also learned military tactics and the use of advanced guidance systems, giving the Hamas militias another dangerous tool.

There is said to be a network of underground supply routes in Gaza controlled by Hamas. Beneath the densely populated coastal strip lies a network of corridors and storage areas. It is a system of communication routes, bunkers, weapons workshops and escape routes constructed by Hamas.

These tunnels are located both in the Gaza Strip itself and on the border with Egypt. This connection in particular appears to be central to arms and ammunition deliveries. Because: Due to the ongoing blockade of the area, both everyday goods and weapons are smuggled through this tunnel. Whether this happens with or without Egypt’s blessing is unclear.

There is currently no clear evidence that the weapons fired this weekend actually came from the Muslim country. But undoubtedly smuggled goods circulated there in the past. In the aftermath of the latest attacks, Egypt called for de-escalation.

But Hamas also receives weapons via ships, as the Washington Post writes. In the past, ships from Iran, but also from Syria, have deposited watertight weapons packages off the coast, especially at night, which have been washed up on the beaches of the Gaza Strip by the natural current. In this way, the Israeli Navy’s controls could be circumvented.

With these high-risk ‘ship-to-land transfers’, Hamas circumvents official Israeli border controls, ensuring an uninterrupted supply of weapons.

In 2005, Israel withdrew all troops from the Gaza Strip. A crucial mistake, according to retired Israeli general Amir Avivi after the Hamas attack on Israel.

He told the Times of Israel that without a base, there would be an increasing reliance on technological means to obtain information about what is happening in the coastal strip. The terrorists have found ways to evade technological intelligence work in the Gaza Strip. “They use simple means,” says Avivi. Hamas supporters did not use telephones or computers to conduct their sensitive business.

Instead, they held their meetings in rooms specially protected from technical espionage – including meetings on arms procurement. The underground supply lines through the tunnels also provide a certain level of security against foreign espionage possibilities, especially from the Israeli secret services.

Source: Blick